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Barbara Walters' defense of Woody Allen gets heated

Compiled by Tony Hicks

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
02/04/2014 09:21:41 AM PST

Updated:
02/04/2014 01:07:07 PM PST

Barbara Walters is defending Woody Allen.

Only days after Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow accused the director of sexually abusing her when she was 7 in an open letter to the New York Times, Walters came to Allen's defense on Monday's episode of "The View," according to the New York Daily News.

"I have rarely seen a father as sensitive, as loving and as caring as Woody is and Soon-Yi to these two girls (referring to the now married couple's daughters together.) I don't know about Dylan. I can only tell you what I have seen now," the 84-year-old TV personality said.

Jenny McCarthy pointed out that Dylan, the daughter of Allen's former partner, Mia Farrow, has "nothing to gain by coming out and saying this" 21 years later.

Television personality Barbara Walters arrives at the Time 100 Gala in New York, in this April 24, 2012, file photograph ( REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

"She's doing it now because he's up for an (Oscar.) And so the question is: Does your personal life interfere with the awards that you may get?" Walters responded.

Co-host Sherri Shepherd argued, "We've heard so many cases of people going, 'He was the most wonderful person in the world. I would have never thought he would've ...'"

Walters interrupted Shepherd, "That's not what I'm saying."

"Barbara, when you say, 'I'm speaking from what I've seen,' there are so many things that go on behind closed doors. We also know that he was with Soon-Yi when she was very young. Mia had adopted this girl when she was young and Woody was around her. You've also got a man who's got a track record. He liked younger women," Shepherd said. "So it's not that far off."

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"The fact that he likes 'younger women,' that has nothing to do with it," Walters said.

Shepherd raised her voice at Walters saying, "But they're not of age! Seventeen is not of age, Barbara."

Walters stated that Soon Yi and Allen's relationship was "mutual."

"It was his stepdaughter that he messed around with!" Shepherd said. "That was his stepdaughter!"

Allen's lawyer has denied the allegations against the 78-year-old filmmaker, blaming Farrow.

"It is tragic that after 20 years, a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities," said Elkan Abramowitz, Allen's lawyer.